The Brute Within

Appetitive Desire in Plato and Aristotle

Hendrik Lorenz

Description

Hendrik Lorenz presents a comprehensive study of Plato's and Aristotle's conceptions of non-rational desire. They see this as something that humans share with animals, and which aims primarily at the pleasures of food, drink, and sex. Lorenz explores the cognitive resources that both philosophers make available for the explanation of such desires, and what they take rationality to add to the motivational structure of human beings. In doing so, he finds conceptions of the mind that are coherent and deeply integrated with both philosophers' views about such topics as the relation between body and soul, or the nature of the virtues.

The Brute Within

Appetitive Desire in Plato and Aristotle

Hendrik Lorenz

Table of Contents

IntroductionI. Appetite and Reason in Plato's Republic1. Parts of the soul2. The argument for tripartition3. Partition4. The simple pictureII. Belief and Appearance in Plato 5. Imitation and the soul6. Belief and reason7. Below belief and reasonIII. Phantasia and Non-Rational Desire in Aristotle 8. Preliminaries9. Phantasia, desire, and locomotion10. Desire without phantasia11. The workings of phantasia12. Phantasia and practical thought13. Reason and non-rational desireConclusion